Gestalt Institute of Toronto - 2021 - 2022 Training Catalogue

Gestalt Institute of Toronto 2021-2022 Training Catalogue

2 WELCOME TO THE GIT another, whether I am aware that I can feel in my bones the suffering of someone on the other side A MESSAGE FROM of my world? THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND THE DIRECTOR OF TRAINING The Gestalt perspective is to ask “how” not what or why. We ask ourselves how can we expose our You are holding (or viewing) our catalog of “safe frailties, our unsureness and our need for the other, emergencies”. Gestalt works on the boundary of how can we drop the mask of self sufficiency and emergence and emergency. The workshops in not fear that by doing so we are less? How can these pages invite you into a safe as possible envi- we trust that it is our vulnerability, not our urgency, ronment to speak the unspeakable and face the that moves one another? How can we reclaim in the unfaceable with others. The dictionary definition words of our founder Jorge Rosner that one plus of Emergence is the process of “coming into view” one is something far greater than two? or becoming exposed after being concealed. The definition of Emergency is something that “needs We hope that we opened a door this year to a willing- immediate action”. Gestalt seeks to transform emer- ness to expose, first to ourselves then to one another, gency into emergence. To learn to stop ourselves how deeply we have been “made” by our cultures, at the place of urgent action, in order to allow that our families, and the implicit and invisible. boundar- which is hidden between us to come to the surface. ies of our social structures. In each engagement we have an opportunity to wake up to the impact of the At this writing we still share uncertainty about the field and our conditioning on the very way we are nature of our re-emergence. Before we return to flesh meeting flesh, will we take time for transition, time to take breath together, time to take an inter- est in one another’s breath? And will we reflect on whether we have become more generous with one

WELCOME TO THE GIT 3 with one another. Models of shame, blame or “fix-it” WELCOME TO THE GIT are embedded into our social patterns of inequity. In trying to make things better we are unaware that we include in our language and patterns of relating old paradigms of power and submission. To change what Dr. Adam Kincel calls the “collective gestalt” is to allow the emergence of seeing ourselves reflected in another’s eyes. We invite you to move beyond the box of our unspo- ken and hidden limitations and to touch the unknown together. Every page is an entry out of the box – Gestalt style. Each experience is a co-creation – when you leave a workshop you leave us changed as well. We invite you to the Gestalt Experience. Carolina Edwards Jay Tropianskaia Executive Director Director of Training

4 WELCOME TO THE GIT The Gestalt Institute of Toronto The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is one of the oldest Gestalt therapy today is vital and expanding throughout established psychotherapy training schools in Canada. Europe, Asia and the Americas. The GIT is part of a We were established in 1973 as a center for some of growing international family committed to the leading the leading Gestalt practitioners of the day, including edge in humanistic psychotherapy training backed by Lore Perls and Isadore From. In addition to the training neuroscience and quality based research, dedicated to of psychotherapists we have a tradition of providing the movement from behavioural and cognitive focus to one of the most challenging levels of personal growth an inclusive embodied, relational field approach. and development workshops and ongoing groups. Our commitment to experiential learning means that our Our students come from backgrounds as varied graduates have embodied the theory and approach as academia and the arts, education, occupational in their lives as well as their work. Over and over we therapy, social work, human resources, health care hear from our students and participants: I have never management and somatic practice. Some have always connected more deeply to others, I now can be myself known that they flourished in the experiential approach within a group, or I have found my honest voice. or they seek to balance their academic strengths with embodied knowledge. The Gestalt psychotherapist In June 2014, we became the first psychotherapy brings their whole self into a variety of settings, in private training institute in Ontario to be recognized by practice as well as institutional settings working with a the newly established College of Registered Psycho- range of human suffering including psychopathology therapists of Ontario (CRPO) as addressing all of the and addictions, anxiety and trauma. required criteria for training. We are also certified as a designated learning institute (DLI) which provides the opportunity for international students to apply for a study visa to train with us. The GIT continues to hold its own on the international scale with the quality of train- ing as well as its association with leading international Gestalt trainers.

The Five Year Training Program in THE FIVE YEAR TRAINING PROGRAM 5 THE FIVE YEAR TRAINING PROGRAM IN GESTALT PSYCHOTHERAPY Gestalt Psychotherapy principle that self-acceptance leads to greater accep- The Gestalt Training Program consists of five years of tance of the other, to a willingness to make mistakes in part-time study on evenings and weekends. The program the presence of others and to the awareness that we is scheduled between the months of September and are each an implicit part of everything that occurs in April, followed by a five-day residential in a country our shared reality and therefore any change in pattern setting early in May for Years One, Two and Three, and of one person affects the entire group. in early June for Year Four and the One Year Training for Professionals group. The first two years of The Five Year Training Program may be taken for intensive interpersonal growth for students not intending to go forward into the Professional Devel- opment Training of Years Three, Four and Five, which are geared to becoming a Registered Psychotherapist. Years One and Two, or equivalent, are prerequisite train- ing for entrance to Year Three through Five. The Gestalt Institute of Toronto’s training programs continue to be committed to experiential and experimen- tal learning within group process, an approach that has been our trademark since 1973. Real change is possible in a diverse group coming together to support each other and the process. We are committed to shared agree- ments to speak the language of responsibility, to the

6 THE FIVE YEAR TRAINING PROGRAM YEAR ONE — GESTALT APPROACH TO INTERPERSONAL GROWTH In Year One students are introduced to Contemporary • Awaken body awareness as a first step to Gestalt with its emphasis on the interpersonal self and embodied relationality the restoration of a sense of belonging. Year One is a year • Discover the “how” of who you are – your unlike any other, where a return to creativity and sponta- phenomenology – as it changes in different neity is encouraged through experiential learning within a situations and with others supportive, diverse and dynamic group. The emphasis is • Explore who you are at the boundary of on the lineage of Gestalt Therapy and the interactive prac- experience tice of foundational theories. The Group becomes a living • Confront fear of intimacy and gain confidence in laboratory in which to explore present-based awareness interpersonal skills of yourself in relation to others. Students can expect to connect with others at the deepest level, and to discover STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO COMPLETE: aspects of self both mirrored in and inspired by group • Oral and Written Exams members. Learning acquired in Year One forms the foun- • A Reflective Journal as an ongoing personal dation of Gestalt therapy practice as developed across exploration of theory as learned in the classroom the five years. • For students intending to continue to Year Three it is recommended to begin personal therapy LEARNING OUTCOMES INCLUDE: with a Gestalt psychotherapist or student • Gain familiarity with the roots of Gestalt theory and therapist, to fulfil the required 30 hours of its impact on contemporary Gestalt personal therapy by the end of Year Two. • Reclaim spontaneity—learn the difference between risk-taking and recklessness • Find the language to identify and express your own process in relation to others

THE FIVE YEAR TRAINING PROGRAM 7 YEAR TWO — INTRODUCTION TO EMBODIED RELATIONAL FIELD PRACTICE Year Two provides more structured application of the • Integration of Gestalt theory of human psychological tools of Gestalt inside the group experience. Group functioning and development members learn to attend to their embodied responses to • Discover language for internal experience in order one another, using ‘I and Thou’, Here and Now to contex- to create rapport with the other tualize the experience of difference. Urgent responses of • Develop ability to take and give feedback judgment and blame are replaced by transparency and • Include differences in interactions with others awareness of one’s process with the other. This inclusive, • Achieve successful resolution of authority issues non-shaming language will be key in answering the ther- • Maintain self-care and level of health and manage apist question of how to be direct without causing harm. energy during training weekends The theory of creative adjustment guides us away from • Integration of awareness of self in relation to one’s “first wave” reactivity to responding to the intention for role as group member and trainee contact underlying all behavior. Group process becomes • Integration of knowledge of human and cultural the stimulus for, awareness of, and dissolving of any fixed diversity in relation to other group members patterns or roles which are co-created with the group — • Begin to access and apply a range of relevant replacing these with flexibility and genuine curiosity. In professional literature this year you can expect to deepen your sense of the group as a support for ongoing challenge and growth. STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO COMPLETE: • Oral and written assignments LEARNING OUTCOMES INCLUDE: • Students intending to apply to Year Three will • Build and maintain effective relationships need thirty hours of personal therapy with a • Use of effective communication – access genuine Gestalt psychotherapist by the end of Year Two curiosity and interest in one’s own responses to another’s approach and style Successful completion of Year Two includes academic • Address emerging conflicts and differences with (integration of theory), attendance, and interpersonal perspective, self-awareness and respect, use of assessment— leading to readiness to begin Year Three. ‘I-Thou’ and ‘Here and Now’

8 THE FIVE YEAR TRAINING PROGRAM YEAR THREE — USE OF SELF IN EMBODIED RELATIONAL PRACTICE A year of leading from our vulnerability In Year Three, students learn to experiment with the safe • Demonstrate awareness of the impact of context and effective use of themselves in deep phenomenologically and the presence of the therapist and the co- based dialogue with one another, as well as supervised prac- leader on process tice with students in Years One and Two. In this way, students • Developing effective skills of awareness of self, begin to experience themselves at the beginning of therapist the client, the co-created field and the process training— applying both professional ethics and boundaries of contact - “the dance” to their relations with students in earlier training years, as well • Employing empathy, respect and authenticity as with peers in their own year. As co-leaders assisting faculty, • Maintenance of self-care and level of health students begin to learn the meaning of process- led groups necessary for responsible therapy and group and expand their creativity through workshop creation and membership developing skills in the Gestalt experiment. LEARNING OUTCOMES IN YEAR THREE INCLUDE: STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO COMPLETE: • Integration of awareness of self in relation to • Oral and written assignments professional role • 150 hours of experiential and didactic teaching • Develop safe and effective use of self in the • 50 additional hours of supervised leadership therapeutic relationship • Brief live therapy examinations • Learn to bracket assumptions and become aware of • Total of fifty hours of personal therapy with bias to assume non-judgemental stance Gestalt psychotherapists by the end of Year • Maintain appropriate professional boundaries with Three Year One and Two students and co-leaders • Adapt the therapist’s approach within a diverse group Application from Year Three to Year Four is by group interview held in June of each year.

YEAR FOUR — TRAINING AND THE FIVE YEAR TRAINING PROGRAM 9 SUPERVISION IN GESTALT THERAPY All Learning Outcomes are now applied to the practice Students in Year Four are trained academically and of psychotherapy with particular emphasis on: experientially in the fundamentals of therapy practice • Exploration of the impact of personal bias and and a range of diverse clinical applications of the work. experience to the therapy relationship Emphasis is on Gestalt as the clinical application of • Applying personal experience and embodied phenomenology. Beginning in November, students are relational approach to safe and effective use of self approved to see clients under supervision, they obtain • Learning how the phenomenological approach liability insurance and choose a supervisor, and become supports therapist work with issues of members in the Student Clinic. Students are supported multiculturalism, diversity and power dynamic and guided through an experiential and practical train- • Learning to apply the ARK principle (M.S. Lobb) - ing in all aspects of the practice – from preparing for the aesthetic, relational and knowledge first meeting, to intake, risk assessment, note taking and • Obtaining clinical supervision and consultation managing the therapy hour. • Establishing and maintaining an effective therapeutic relationship Once students begin supervised therapy practice there • Offering psychotherapy to clients and maintain a is deeper and more immediate integration of the Gestalt professional frame for therapy approach to change, field theory and the practice of embodied relationality. Learning includes the intrinsic STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO COMPLETE: and extrinsic forms of diagnosis, the primary ethic of • Oral and written assignments the profession and of Gestalt therapy, and fundamentals • Membership in Student Clinic requiring intake of being a psychotherapist including safe and effective training and practicum use of self and principles pertaining to transference, • 150 hours of experiential and didactic learning counter transference and self-disclosure. The Year Four • Up to 20 hours of clinical group supervision. program also includes clinical group supervision.

10 THE FIVE YEAR TRAINING PROGRAM Graduation from the Five Year Training Program requires completion of all academic requirements, YEAR FIVE — ADVANCED GESTALT 30 hours of direct one-on-one or dyadic supervision PSYCHOTHERAPY TRAINING with an approved supervisor, a minimum of 150 direct client hours, and the acceptance of an extensive clin- Year Five is a completion year for therapists-in-training ical paper. who are beginning to obtain their own clients to build and maintain a therapy practice. Graduation takes place in June or December of each calendar year. Individuals successfully meeting all YEAR FIVE PROGRAM INCLUDES: requirements receive a Diploma of Completion of The • Five seminars on advanced approaches taught by Five Year Training Program in Gestalt Psychotherapy. international leaders and senior faculty • Monthly reading group, video and discussion Year Five students are welcome to continue on as sessions on current issues in psychotherapy members of the Gestalt Student Clinic until they have • Ongoing direct client hours under supervision reached RP(Qualifying) status. • 48 hours of didactic and experiential learning • 20 hours of clinical group supervision Our graduates work in a variety of settings from running successful psychotherapy practices, to working in clin- It is during this year that students typically complete their ics, hospitals and schools. hours and supervision requirements for writing their final clinical paper as their final steps towards graduation. Once students’ final paper draft has been approved, the GIT sends a letter of substantial completion to the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) at which time they may begin their application process for RP (Qualifying) status. Timing of final paper and gradu- ation is intended to ensure that graduates attain their RP (Qualifying) status immediately following their graduation so there is no interruption of their therapy practice.

THE FIVE YEAR TRAINING PROGRAM 11 FIVE DAY RESIDENTIAL FOR TRAINING PROGRAMS The first residential training at the beginning of May takes place in a country setting outside of Toronto. The residential is a requirement for all students at the end of Year One, Two and Three in order to complete their year. The second residential training in June completes the requirements for Year Four and the Professionals Program. A fee of $700 for the 2021-2022 training year includes accommodation and all meals. The residential fee is separate from tuition fees. Travel arrangements are the responsibility of the individual. TUITION FEE SCHEDULE FOR 2022 Year One Year Four Gestalt Approach to Interpersonal Growth Training & Supervision in Gestalt Practice $4700* $4700* Year Two Year Five Introduction to Embodied Relational Field Practice Advanced Gestalt Psychotherapy Training $4700* $2500* Year Three Use of Self in Embodied Relational Practice $4700* *$100 administration fee is added if paid by instalments. GIT Tuition fees qualify to be claimed as a non-refundable tax credit with Revenue Canada.

12 THE PROFESSIONALS PROGRAM THE PROFESSIONALS PROGRAM This program is specifically tailored to the needs of Gestalt works “from the ground up” requiring the devel- professionals to train in Gestalt theory and approach opment of the ability we call attunement to their own inside a community of peers. This program meets the embodied response to the other. The Gestalt therapist entrance requirement to apply to Year Two of the Five needs to move fluidly between embodied awareness and Year Training Program for those who wish to continue interpretive skills. This phenomenological approach is their training. Contemporary Gestalt’s response to a desensitized soci- ety. Often very challenging in the beginning, because The format is identical to Year One of our intensive of its experiential and experimental method of training, training program, with weekly theory classes and seven participants can expect to gain a renewed sense of alive- intensive weekends, held between October and May, ness, curiosity about difference replacing frustration, and with a five day residential in June. The weekly meetings interactions with group members becoming increasingly are held on Friday mornings. more creatively fulfilling. Participants will learn how much their sense of self is expanded by experiential interactions with a diverse group that deepens in intimacy and supportive risk over the year together. The curriculum of the professionals stream is enhanced to include the level of experience and professional applications of participants.

THE PROFESSIONALS PROGRAM THE PROFESSIONALS PROGRAM 13 THE PROFESSIONALS PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES • Practicing and experiencing the Hot Seat • Finding support and self-care that can be applied The following learning outcomes are included in addition to one’s own practice to those outlined in Year One of the Training Program: • The role of inclusion and embodiment in Safe and Effective Use of Self • Finding support and resource in a group of peers • Developing faith in Gestalt principles of Process, COURSE SCHEDULE: working in the present moment and using ‘I and 19 Friday mornings between October and May and Thou’ form of communication Five Day June Residential • Awareness of self and of one’s own process in relation to others TUITION FEE: • Identifying the “first wave” activation as a stimulus • $4700 plus residential fee to finding ground • Five-Day residential fee of $700 includes • Applying multiple layers of awareness from accommodation and all meals. Travel embodied to field awareness in a variety of arrangements are the responsibility of clinical contexts the individual. • Therapist inclusion as diagnostic and method: the co-created field Tuition Fee can be used as a non-refundable tax credit. • Finding a language for “the space between” • Identifying forms of contact • Finding support in challenging encounters – engaging difference and making impact • Adopting the experimental attitude

14 INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS THE DANCE OF RECIPROCITY Margherita returns to us this year to present her unique WITH COUPLES approach to the Dance of Reciprocity with Couples. AN ONLINE WORKSHOP “Couples therapy is successful when both partners open their hearts and minds to the other’s experience, DATES: Thursday and Friday, when rather than retreating behind their own wounds... September 16th & 17th,2021 they attend to the wounds of the other and allow them- selves to be modified by them.” (MSL, in Now for Next TIME: 9:00AM-3:00PM in Couples Psychotherapy). FEE: $495 For those of you who are called to seeing couples, or $450 (GIT STUDENT who find yourselves implicated in the pain of a couples & GRADUATE RATE) individual retreat from reciprocity, this two day workshop is an invaluable introductory training to the specific nature of Gestalt work with couples. Training includes MARGHERITA SPAGNUOLO LOBB underlying theory and experiential practice, exploration of the life of a couple, and a model for working with Margherita Spagnuolo Lobb is a psychol- couples built along her three experiential dimensions: ogist, licensed psychotherapist, interna- tional trainer and director since 1979 of • To recognize the otherness of the other the Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy (Milan, • To distinguish between one’s own wounds Palermo and Siracusa). She trained with and that of the other Isadore From, Erving and Miriam Polster • To make a jump into the void, and play with and was deeply influenced by Daniel the other – give pleasure to the other. Stern. She has authored and edited numerous books, and hundreds of papers and chapters on various aspects of Gestalt CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE): 10 HOURS therapy theory and method and is the recipient of several awards honoring her contributions to the profession. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/CONTINUING-EDUCATION/DRWC

INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS 15 EMBODIED PRACTICE “Embodiment “the sensate experience of my body/ self in INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS AN ONLINE WORKSHOP relation to others and the world about me (the field).” (Clemmens 2011) DATE: Thursday & Friday November 25th ,26th 2021 The primary support for our work as Gestalt therapists is being present and available to ourselves and our TIME: 10:00AM-5:00PM clients. The discipline and power of being fully embod- ied becomes the ground for our intention and engage- FEE: $495 ment as “contact partners”. In order to be present and $450 (GIT STUDENT sensate with our clients, we must first notice/embody & GRADUATE RATE) our own self through increased and ongoing awareness of how we breathe, how we can support our own flow though postural alignment and how we move in relation MICHAEL CRAIG CLEMMENS to others. Michael Craig Clemmens is a psychologist Our bodies are the continuity of the situation and the and trainer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He relationship. That is — we hold and engage both the is a faculty member of the Gestalt Institute present moment and history in our tissue. It is through of Cleveland and teaches at the Esalen our “lived body” that we are continuous in relation to Institute in Big Sur, California. Michael the other/self. is the author of Getting Beyond Sobriety (1997), the editor of Embodied Relational In this two day online workshop, Michael Clemmens Gestalt: Theory and Applications (2019) offers a roadmap to embodied practice for any prac- and numerous articles on Gestalt therapy, body process, and titioner who seeks to develop attunement and respon- addiction. His main interest is the complex interaction of our sivity in the therapy session leading to mutual support, bodies and the multi-layered field. connection and empathy. CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE): 12 HOURS SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/CONTINUING-EDUCATION/EPMC

16 INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE The Alexander Technique is a simple and practical method FOR GESTALTISTS for improving ease and freedom of movement. Its origins mirror the birth of Gestalt therapy and there is a natural DATES & Friday, January 28th connection with Gestalt therapy’s somatic approach. This two day workshop was designed by Susan specifically for TIMES: 7:30PM - 10:00PM, Gestalt trainees and therapists. Saturday January 29th In this workshop you will learn to attend to your whole self, direct your attention to your total body pattern of coor- 10:00AM-5:00PM, dination, and develop a moment to moment awareness for greater ease, support and connectivity to self, others Sunday January 30th and the environment. It is especially useful for the Gestalt therapist to include kinesthetic and movement sensing in 10:00AM - 1:00PM their own embodied support in order to support the ground of the client in relation. Within the group, Susan will work FEE: $450 hands on with each person. $400 (GIT STUDENT & GRADUATE RATE) PARTICIPANTS WILL • Learn by observing self and others in the group SUSAN SINCLAIR • Work in individual activities, as well as apply the Alexander Technique with each person Susan Sinclair directs the Alexander Tech- working in a brief therapist/client relationship nique Teacher Training Program and maintains so we can directly experience the potential of a private practice at her Toronto studio in the greater kinesthetic awareness and whole body Alexander Technique and the Pilates Method. support in the therapist role. Susan has presented her work internationally and is on faculty at The Houston School for The Alexander Technique and The Alexander Alliance Tokyo. She is an Alexander Technique International certi- fied teacher and sponsor. CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE): 12 HOURS SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/CONTINUING-EDUCATION/ATFG

GRIEF & LOSS: INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS 17 Only the Living Can Witness the Passing of Death A WORKSHOP ABOUT LOSS AND GRIEF FOR THOSE LIVING WITH THE DYING AND FOR PROFESSIONALS AN ONLINE WORKSHOP WORKING WITH GRIEF AND LOSS. DATE: Friday, March 18th, Grief and loss are inevitable in life but, despite being 2022 unavoidable, they cause suffering in each human being who suffers them, and in their immediate envi- TIME: 9:00AM-3:00PM ronment. FEE: $250 This issue is especially sensitive after the losses $225 (GIT STUDENT suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. & GRADUATE RATE) In this workshop, we will explore theoretically, based on the theory of our Gestalt approach, the grieving CARMEN VÁZQUEZ BANDÍN process, as well as how to work with the person who has suffered a loss and who attends therapy. During Carmen Vázquez Bandín is a clinical the seminar, work practices will be done as well as psychologist, Gestalt psychotherapist, some personal work and some supervision. international teacher and supervisor, member of the AETG (Spanish Associa- CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE): 5 HOURS tion for Gestalt Therapy), EAGT (European Association for GT) and NYIGT (New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy. She works in private clinical practice in Madrid, Spain. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/CONTINUING-EDUCATION/GAL

18 INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS THE BODILY ROOTS OF According to the traditional perspective on the devel- DEVELOPMENTAL TRAUMA opment of trauma, in the first years of a baby’s life the AN ONLINE WORKSHOP parent initiates what is thought to become an habitual traumatic reaction in the child. Consequently, the baby DATE: Saturday, June 18th & reacts to the parent in ways that are rigid and repetitive. Sunday, June 19th 2022 This understanding of developmental trauma, however, does not take into consideration the relational dynamics TIME: 10:00AM-5:00PM that are part and parcel of any organizing experience. Observing baby and parent interactions from a relational FEE: $495 and contextual perspective and through micro-move- $450 (GIT STUDENT ments, it can be seen how the baby’s behaviors can & GRADUATE RATE) powerfully impact their parents and can generate the threat of re-traumatizing for them. RUELLA FRANK This two day workshop will center on the patterns of interaction both baby and parent that over time create Ruella Frank has been exploring early infant traumatic attaching and the passage of intergener- movements and their relationship to the adult ational trauma. We will also explore how these early since the mid 1970s. She brings many years of patterns influence the unfolding patient and psycho- experience to her work as a gestalt psychothera- therapist relationship in moment of re-traumatization in pist as a professional dancer, yoga practitioner/ the here-and-now. The workshop will include lecture, teacher, student of various movement theories, movement explorations and therapy demonstration. and student of Laura Perls, co-founder of gestalt therapy. Ruella is founder and director of the Center for Somatic Studies, faculty CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE): 12 HOURS at the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy, faculty at Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy, and also teaches throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and South America. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/CONTINUING-EDUCATION/BRDT

ALUMNI AND PROFESSIONALS PROGRAMS 19 COME FROM AWAY: LEADER: Jay Tropianskaia, RP, Senior Faculty ALUMNI AND PROFESSIONALS PROGRAMS A SERIES FOR ALUMNI DATES: Four Monday Evenings 6:30PM-9:00PM Wherever you go in the October 25th, November 29th, 2021, city, country or out there March 7th, June 6th, 2022 in the wider world, you know when you come across a fellow alumni FEE: $395 of the Gestalt Institute of Toronto. Chances are EARLY BIRD RATE: $350 (register before October 15th) the years you graduated represented different eras BIOGRAPHY in the transformation of Jay Tropianskaia, RP, Director of Train- Gestalt therapy and the ing and the Senior Faculty of the Gestalt GIT, creating widely different stories since our first graduation Institute of Toronto, Canada, has prac- class of 1975. What remains the same is the spirit of the GIT ticed as a Gestalt psychotherapist for graduate: Contactful, curious, humorous and wise - you know the past 28 years. In addition to teach- us anywhere. Following our first meeting where we shared the ing and training in the Five Year Train- wealth of experience from 1975 to the present, a decision was ing Program in Gestalt Psychotherapy made to continue to meet. This time we will go more deeply into the embodied relational approach, the co-created fields at the GIT, she offers trainings in supervision, working with of trauma, and psychopathology and the use of intrinsic diag- couples, emotional expression and regulation, spirituality nosis that arises out of the relationship and the context. We will and gestalt, and process group facilitation. Her range of explore the intersection of politics and therapy beginning with interest is well represented in this year’s catalog. She contin- the social-cultural making of the gestalt therapist. And most of ues to work in bringing the GIT into alignment with contem- all we will hang out together, let questions and topic arise and porary embodied relational field approach. enjoy the shared language and perspective that is our Gestalt. CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE): 10 HOURS SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/CONTINUING-EDUCATION/CFA

20 ALUMNI AND PROFESSIONALS PROGRAMS RESTORING PRESENCE This workshop is highly recommended for practitioners and A THERAPIST’S GUIDE trainees of the phenomenological approach, who wish to increase their sensitivity to their own body sensations as a TO SUPPORT AT THE barometer of the intent of the client-therapist field. BOUNDARY LEADER: Shan Qi, RP, Faculty This 8 part workshop works DATES: Eight Wednesday Mornings, 10:00AM-12:30PM directly with what Gianni Fran- November 10th, 17th, 24th,December 1st, cesetti calls the “first wave” response in which therapists 8th, 2021, January 5th,12th, 19th, 2022 can lose their ground and miss their client. James Hillman FEE: $475 wrote: The body is the vessel $425 (GIT Student & Graduate Rate) in which the transformation process takes place. This workshop works directly with embodied ways to: BIOGRAPHY Shan Qi, RP, is a somatic, trauma informed • support ourselves at the interstices where Gestalt psychotherapist and trainer who contact could happen has worked deeply with survivors of cata- • transform therapist activation and missed strophic trauma using phenomenological moments into material for next steps relational heart to heart humanity. She • understand the symptom as a message of shares this training with health care prac- unresolved trauma • recognize how to restore flow, fluidity and titioners, from any discipline who are interested in the use spontaneity in your practice. of the embodied self, which we call Presence. Shan is also • uncover how your emotion affects your body a graduate of the Developmental Somatic Psychotherapy sensation and movements and vice versa. Program in New York, and has completed training in somatic experiencing, psychodrama, and sensory awareness. CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE): 20 HOURS SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/CONTINUING-EDUCATION/RPTG

ALUMNI AND PROFESSIONALS PROGRAMS 21 WORKING WITH LEADER: Jay Tropianskaia,RP, Senior Faculty COUPLES DATES: Four Friday Mornings, 9:30AM-12:00PM A workshop for registered April 1st, 8th, 22nd, 29th, 2022 psychotherapists who have graduated from the GIT Train- ing Program or have equiv- FEE: $425 alent training and are ready to work with couples. Gestalt EARLY BIRD RATE: $375 (register before March 6th) Therapy is uniquely suited to couples work with its empha- BIOGRAPHY sis on co-creation and its foun- SEE PAGE 19 dational belief that I can only know myself through the other. However working with couples CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE): 10 HOURS can be challenging for beginning therapists where the focus has been on the inter-relationship between the therapist and the client. For a couple it is recognizing and supporting the co-cre- ation of their mutual recognition that is of interest to the therapist. To be able to do this a therapist must accept that each member of the relationship is a gift of growth for the other. This four session workshop offers experiential, applied and theo- retical support for those therapists who feel called to working with couples. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/CONTINUING-EDUCATION/WWC

22 INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS EXPERIENCES INCLUDE: HOW TO BE IN A • Opening our windows of tolerance on the ability RELATIONSHIP to be loved • Codependency and what the heart is asking I call relationship the fastest • What we give to others as key to what we need road to enlightenment if you • Love and sex, the different needs we have that are open to the challenge. get confused between the two There is no personal growth • The place of compassion and empathy in the program as challenging as human design. your partner in your face 24/7 telling you how you can LEADER: Jay Tropianskaia, RP, Senior Faculty be better. Here is an opportu- DATES: Five Tuesday Evenings, 7:00PM-9:00PM nity to find out that your expe- November 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th,2021 riences are not unusual, and $375 to find the lighter side of “the FEE: relationship road to personal development”. We will explore co- $325 (register before October 1st) creating a world that works, tolerating the differences, separating EARLY BIRD “my” trauma from “our” trauma, learning that to receive love is more RATE: generous than to give love, learning the difference between trust and faith and facing the challenge of the relationship as a separate BIOGRAPHY entity that must be nourished in order to grow. SEE PAGE 19 If you are currently in a relationship, between relationships, or contemplating a relationship then this workshop is for you. This is not a couples workshop – this is a space to know yourself in relation and to be safe to explore with absolute honesty and the support of your fellow journeyers. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/HTBR

INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS 23 UNCOMFORTABLE LEADER: Sheldon Holder INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE AND DATES: Eight Tuesday Evenings, 7:00PM-9:00PM COLONIALISM November 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, December 7th, 14th,21st 2021 The intention of the work- shop is to invite partici- pants to experience the FEE: $325 edges of honest self reflection and disclosure EARLY BIRD RATE: $295 (register before October 1st) in a particularly Gestalt approach. The workshop BIOGRAPHY Sheldon Holder is an activist, musician, is not without personal risk. writer and trainer. He is in his final year of We have found that in communicating the impact of one partic- the Five Year Training Program. Sheldon ipant to another there is often an unawareness of shame and combines his Gestalt experience with his trauma in the field. Questions arise such as: How do I raise the double major in Human Geography and issue of race or culture with another if it is in my mind? What do History and a minor in Equity Studies at the I do if I feel unfairly seen as a racist? What about my feelings? University of Toronto to make this import- Expressions such as “white privilege” and “pulling the race card” ant contribution to Gestalt approach to and “what is it like to be the only black person in this room” create shock and reactivity at a body level. This is where our diversity and training. tools of embodied awareness, resonance and attunement can support our ability to acknowledge the field of shame which then becomes a doorway to contact. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/UCARC

24 INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS Gestalt therapy is a conversation that comes close to “high play” as group members explore their capacity to co-cre- REALLY MEET ONE ate the “unknown next step” out of the shared present ANOTHER: moment. In this way it is a model for good relationship and THE POWER OF PROCESS for returning to us all the spontaneity we have lost as chil- dren. Join a group of strangers in an experiment of deep Over the years we have heard connection. these same remarks from Gestalt group participants: “In LEADERS: Carolina Edwards,RP, Senior Faculty the group I felt seen for the Luisa de Amaral, RP, Faculty first time, I found the meaning of intimacy with others, I have DATES: Six Tuesday Evenings, 7:00PM-9:00PM really met likeminded people, I January 11th, 18th, 25th, Feb 1st, 8th, 22nd, 2022 feel present with others without losing myself, I have found my FEE: $375 voice…” Through a process oriented approach Gestalt is known to reach levels of intimacy fairly quickly even between strangers and EARLY BIRD $325 (register before yet without the induction of shame or the generating of unfinished RATE: December 15th) business. BIOGRAPHY YOU WILL “REALLY MEET OTHERS” AND LEARN TO: Luisa de Amaral, RP, has been working as • listen to the intentionality of the other through the “how” not a Gestalt therapist for more than a decade the “what” of communication and is currently in private practice in Toronto, • develop curiosity in the other through curiosity in one’s own where she works with individuals, couples reactions and responses and groups. As a GIT faculty, she brings • ask questions that originate in our genuine honesty a broad understanding of diverse cultures and issues of • have fun together by being in the here and now gender to the training program. She is known for her curios- ity, sensitivity and playful creativity. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/RMOA Carolina Edwards - SEE PAGE 25

INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS 25 THE ART OF GESTALT LEADERS: Carolina Edwards, RP, Senior Faculty Three Friday Mornings, 9:30AM-12:00PM Contemporary Gestalt is called DATES: January 21st, 28th, February 4th, 2022 an aesthetic, meaning “of the $225 senses”. The art of Gestalt requires attention to the most FEE: $200 (register before December 15th ) subtle sensing of the impact of the world on us and where EARLY we meet the world. This is BIRD RATE: compared to the meeting of a work of art and a visitor to that BIOGRAPHY work who allows themselves to be changed by the connection. Carolina Edwards, RP, has been a Gestalt This is a meeting that occurs psychotherapist since 1994 and as an beyond thought, beyond verbal and it always happens in relation to educational audiologist, author and the other, where change and self revelation meet. This workshop is lecturer, has worked with children with not to become an artist, but to draw what you feel to see what it shows hearing loss and their families for over 40 you about yourself in a co-created field. Not to be a dancer, but to years. As senior faculty of the GIT she move your body outside of pattern to see what your body wants to combines natural empathy and embodied show you about how you dance with the world. Not to be a singer, skills with a lifetime of spirituality, movement based training but to discover sound as a way of expressing who I am in the present and love of the arts. This last inspires her interest in bringing moment with you. Carolina takes you into depths of meeting yourself the artist’s eyes, and use of materials into Gestalt practice. with others, beyond words, to find yourself as artist, dancer and singer. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/AOG22

26 INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS unlocking the multidimensional aspects of your mind and gaining direct access to knowledge you previously MANDALA: thought to be outside yourself. THE JOURNEY BACK A SPIRITUAL GESTALT A Mandala is described by 3 features: a Center, a Shape, and Directionality. In this weekend workshop, using WHO AM I? Gestalt techniques as a bridge to the spiritual, you will: • Awaken your connection with the 8 directions There is a key, known to with yourself in the Center Wisdom Keepers of almost • Throw a Birthday Celebration for everyone every culture, that can significant in your life – living or no longer living unlock the answer to that – and identify the aspects of yourself they question. touched • Learn the special type of “seeing” that will evoke That key is called Mandala. the living essence of these people – their gifts • Create the sacred work of art of your life’s WHAT IS MANDALA? journey that will be a map for your next steps. Mandala is both a LEADER: Jay Tropianskaia, RP, Senior Faculty physical structure and a process for deciphering the code Five Tuesday Evenings, 6:30PM-9:00PM of our entire life. Mandala is a symbolic representation of DATES: March 1st, 8th, 15th, 29th, April 5th, 2022 our life in which all the people we have encountered, all our $395 experiences and learnings are seen to be chosen by our Basic Self for our own soul’s evolution. Mandala is a compass FEE: $350 (register before February 1st) in which the directions of our life point back to the center. In this surprising workshop, you will discover your Basic Self and EARLY BIRD you will recognize who you have always been. Through the RATE: techniques of Walking and Sitting Hot Seats, you will be able to regain the gifts that were offered to you by every significant BIOGRAPHY person in your life. Through working with nature, movement, SEE PAGE 19 and art, you will learn to translate these gifts into symbols thus SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/MTJB

INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS 27 THE DREAMER LEADER: Tony Greco, RP, Senior Faculty AND THE DREAM Four Tuesday Evenings, 7:00PM-9:00PM DATES: April 5th, 12th, 19th & 26th, 2022 In Gestalt therapy dreaming $225 is a special form of contact. In this 4 session workshop an FEE: $200 (register before March 1st) experienced Gestalt therapist guides you to uncover the EARLY BIRD: undiscovered parts of yourself RATE: that lie hidden in your dreams. The Gestalt approach works BIOGRAPHY through a variety of Gestalt modalities including ‘hot seat’ After training at the GIT, Tony Greco to embody images and metaphors that give your life new mean- honed his skills as a psychotherapist ing. Join Tony Greco in the relational field of the dream, where the for the past 18 years and joined the bridge thins between dreaming and your everyday life. Be willing GIT Faculty in 2013. He is known for to be surprised. It is not necessary to fully remember your dreams his deep and thoughtful approach and to explore dreaming yourself to greater intimacy with yourself and his articulate grasp of the theory. His others. presence and compassion within the personal work with students and clients is well known and recognized. Join him for a journey into dreams and their relationship to you and your life. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/TATD

28 INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS GESTALT AND THE ART A successful confrontation shifts the dynamic between OF CONFRONTATION people and allows vulnerability to replace defensiveness. An Experiential Workshop In this way confrontation restores our faith in belonging to one world in which difference is seen as a doorway to Confrontation is the ability to possibility. speak the truth to another in a mutually supported space, In this workshop, you will explore your fears, your truths about your honest response to and how you show them to the world, and identify and another in a situation. It includes build on your natural confrontation styles. Of all the needs the ability to tolerate the spaces we have as humans the greatest is to have our truth recog- of discomfort and to receive the nized as seen through our own experience. response of the other. It requires us to sense the first wave of LEADER: Jay Tropianskaia, RP, Senior Faculty reactivity that is couched in trauma, and to find support while that DATES: Three Tuesday Evenings, 7:00PM-9:00PM passes. It builds faith in the process of staying at the table with one May 10th, 17th, 24th, 2022 another, no matter what. $225 FEE: Once spoken it begins a conversation, it is not the goal. $200 (register before January 5th ) EARLY What stops us often from a confrontation is fear of being shamed, BIRD RATE: making a mistake, or fear of harming someone. We have learned not to trust that the other person can “take it.” Our experience with not being BIOGRAPHY heard, with denial of our truth equates confrontation with anger and SEE PAGE 19 aggression. An angry explosion is a release of energy in the moment, that leaves us unsatisfied and builds our defenses higher. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/GAOC

INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS 29 OCTOBER 18, 2021 DRAMA The Art of Feeling NOVEMBER 22, 2021 ACTING OUT The Challenge of Trust & Betrayal ARMCHAIR SERIES FEBRUARY 7, 2022 SHOW ME! APRIL 11, 2022 The Art of Doing An Experiential Workshop MAY 30, 2022 EXPOSURE It’s been a long year with a limited audience. This is the year The Art of Gestalt Clown we appeared on our own screens in our worst clothes with our cats, dogs and birds taking center stage. It’s time to take our RERUNS shows on the road with a cast and crew of peers in this limited The Patterns That Never Worked series of gestalt celebrations of the performances of our lives. LEADERS: FACULTY OF THE GIT FEE: $10 PER SESSION TIME: Monday Evenings - 7:00PM-9:00PM SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/TATD

30 INTERPERSONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS INFORMATION NIGHTS A perfect introduction to the method, the approach and the community of the Gestalt Institute of Toronto. Learn first- hand about our Training Programs and workshops through combining with like-minded people in lively Gestalt experi- ential explorations of yourself and others. Evenings are led by Gestalt faculty. DATES AND TIMES: Monday Evenings 7:00PM-9:00PM INFO NIGHT September 27th, 2021 February 28th, 2022 November 8th, 2021 March 21th, 2022 January 17th, 2022 April 25th, 2022 SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/WORKSHOPS/INFONIGHT

Gestalt therapy is a present-centered and experiential approach THE GIT STUDENT CLINIC 31 to personal change. To be fully present in the here and now offers you more excitement, energy and courage to live life CLINIC COORDINATORS directly. People come to Gestalt therapy who seek embodied LEILA SHENOUDA AND MING WU support in times of crisis and transition, who desire to finish unfinished business, find creative solutions in relationships and decrease their level of fear and anxiety. Supervised student therapists in Year Four and Five of the Five Year Training Program provide high level, empathic and interactive therapy at an affordable fee. The service is available in Toronto, Thornhill, Mississauga, Burlington, Guelph and at the present time online for more distant areas. Appointments are available at the Gestalt Student Clinic for daytime, evenings and weekends and we currently have student therapists who can provide therapy in languages other than English, so please inquire. You can go to the Student Clinic on the GIT website to register for information. SCAN TO REGISTER NOW OR VISIT GESTALT.ON.CA/LOW-COST-THERAPY-CLINIC

32 FACULTY STAFF AND GUEST LEADERS FACULTY AND STAFF JAY TROPIANSKAIA CAROLINA EDWARDS TONY GRECO LUISA DE AMARAL SENIOR FACULTY SENIOR FACULTY SENIOR FACULTY FACULTY GITA LAKHANPAL SHAN QI AZUCENA CRUZ CARLY HUBBARD FACULTY FACULTY REGISTRAR / OFFICE MANAGER ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

FACULTY STAFF AND GUEST LEADERS 33 GUEST LEADERS FACULTY STAFF AND GUEST LEADERS ELDER CHARLENE AVALOS MARGHERITA MICHAEL CLEMMENS SHIRLEY GILLIS-KENDALL SPAGNUOLO LOBB SUSAN SINCLAIR CARMEN VÁSQUEZ BANDÌN RUELLA FRANK

34 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MICHAEL COTTRELL MICHELE CONNOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS The Gestalt Institute of Toronto is a charitable organization regis- tered with the Canada Revenue Agency and a private educational institute with Human Resources Development Canada. The GIT Board of Directors works with the administration and Faculty to establish policy and direct ongoing strategies for devel- opment and change. The current board represents a high level of skills and experience which have made it possible for the GIT to go to new levels with confidence. We are grateful for the giveaway of time and energy of board members who are all voluntary, a number of whom have served for several years. LINDA KAMERMAN ZDENKA GORALIKOVA NATALIE HAYNES JEFF BOUGANIM CAROL GOOD PRESIDENT SECRETARY TREASURER PAST PRESIDENT

DONORS & DONATION 35 GROWING THE FUTURE BOARD OF DIRECTORS The GIT is a transformational change agent in the psychothera- peutic community and society. If you have been changed in any way by your experience with Gestalt you are part of the lineage. As such we share an ethical responsibility to pay it forward. Join us in our drive to include diverse voices in our training program. To support Gestalt’s ongoing growth and relevance we invite you to donate to our new scholarship fund dedicated to the black/ indigenous communities who have minimal representation at our school and whose voices are very present in their absence in an increasingly diverse student body. You can support through a tax deductible donation to any of the funds listed below. All donations are gratefully appreciated. DONATION FUNDS THANK YOU TO THE GENEROSITY OF OUR 2020-2021 DONORS Bursary Fund (provides for 5 bursaries each year to students who can benefit from financial support to continue their training) Lifetime Member: Marsha Baillie Gold Donor ($1000 or more): Marsha Baillie, Barbara Tangney, Scholarship Fund (for Black and Indigenous students to attend Stark Draper, Wendy Levant, and Year Two Fundraising the GIT Five Year Training program) Silver Donor (up to $1000): Barbara Beresford, Natalie Gold, JoAnne Greenham Memorial Fund (to honour our long-time Miguel Pascoe Executive Director who passed away in February 2014)

36 YEAR AT A GLANCE NOVEMBER 2021 DATE PAGE Information Night November 8th 30 22 How To Be In A November 2nd – 30th 23 Relationship 20 Uncomfortable November 2nd – 29 Conversations About Race December 21st 15 and Colonialism 24 Restoring Presence: November 10th - 30 A Therapist’s Guide to January 19th 25 Support at the Boundary 16 SEPTEMBER 2021 DATE PAGE Armchair Series: Acting November 22nd The Dance of Reciprocity September 16th & 17th 14 Out for Couples 30 September 27th Embodied Practice November 25th & 26th Information Night 29 19 OCTOBER 2021 October 18th JANUARY 2022 January 11th - Armchair Series: Drama October 25th – June 6th Really Meet One Another: February 22nd The Power of Process Come From Away January 17th Information Night January 21st - Feb 4th The Art of Gestalt January 28th - 30th Alexander Technique for Gestaltists

YEAR AT A GLANCE 37 FEBRUARY 2022 DATE PAGE MAY 2022 PAGE YEAR AT A GLANCE 29 Confrontation Gestalt Style May 10th - 24th 28 Armchair Series: Show Me! February 7th 30 Information Night February 28th 26 Armchair Series: Reruns May 30th 29 MARCH 2022 March 1st – April 5th 17 JUNE 2022 June 18th & 19th 18 Mandala: The Journey 30 Back March 18th Bodily Roots of March 21st 21 Developmental Trauma Grief and Loss 27 Information Night 29 30 APRIL 2022 April 1st – 29th Working With Couples April 5th – 26th The Dreamer and the Dream Armchair Series: Exposure April 11th Information Night April 25th

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